Keel Laid for World's First FLNG Project

Keel Laid for World's First FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas)Project

Shell has laid the keel for 'Prelude FLNG', the world’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.

                            Once complete, the 600,000 tonnes facility will be almost half a kilometre in length (488 metres or 1,601 feet), which is longer than four soccer fields, and will displace six times as much water as the largest aircraft carrie

                            When complete, Prelude is expected to be the largest offshore floating facility ever built. The hull will now be assembled in the dry dock, before the turret and the topsides are fitted at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea.

No more flares on life boats ---Laser device maker hopes its products will replace flares

No more flares on life boats ---Laser device maker hopes its products will replace flares

“Slowly move the laser back and forth across your target.”

            At 16 miles, the beam is some 6,000 feet wide,the laser has a 72-hour burning life on two AA batteries. The company recommends using lithium batteries for longer storage life (five years) and for use in cold temperatures,the company says.

A traditional pyrotechnic flare and a laser device made by Greatland Laser, which hopes to interest the Navy in its products for use in its lifeboats and rafts.
Courtesy- Greatland Laser


                  In product tests in the Baltic Sea, conducted by the Swedish firm Protagia for Greatland Laser, the beams were visible at a distance of 31.5 miles to a helicopter crew flying at 140 knots between 1,500 and 1,750 feet. The pilots reported not being bothered by the flashing beams. (Daytime range is up to three miles.)
                            Recall the grisly final scene in the movieDead Calm involving a flare gun. Picture the bright flares firing briefly over the doomed Titanic.

COCAINE (drug) smuggling carriage caught hiding inside Banana.......

COCAINE (drug)  smuggling carriage caught  hiding inside Banana.......

                                                       Investigators have broken up an international

 drug-trafficking ring that smuggled bricks of cocaine among 

crates of bananas being shipped from Ecuador to St. 

Petersburg. 

                       Nine Russians, two Latvians and the suspected Ukrainian ringleader have been arrested in connection with the four-year investigation by the Interior Ministry, the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Security Service, officials said Thursday. Investigators confiscated 130 kilograms of cocaine in total: 70 kilograms, with a street value of $85 million, from a banana-laden ship headed for St. Petersburg’s harbor in 2012, and the rest from a series of operations against the ring since 2010, Sergei Borodulin, deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s investigative department, said at a news conference. 

                 “We had identified the members by the end of 2012, but nevertheless we wanted to catch them red-handed in order to conduct the confiscation with style,” senior Interior Ministry official Sergei Tikhonenko said, smiling radiantly at several dozen reporters. The lucky break came in December 2012, when investigators learned that a ship arriving from Ecuador would pause in the dead of night before reaching St. Petersburg so the drugs could be unloaded onto the iced-over Gulf of Finland. Associates would walk over from the shore to pick up the drugs. “The rest was a matter of technique, professional skills and our professional pride,” Tikhonenko said. Investigators boarded the ship several hours before the cocaine was to be unloaded and found the drugs in the captain’s cabin packed in plastic bags shaped like bricks.

                             

                    Then investigators unloaded dummy bricks of cocaine onto the ice for the associates to pick up. It took the associates nine hours to walk, waist-deep in snow, the several kilometers from the ship to the shore — where investigators were waiting to detain them. The associates led the investigators to a rented cottage in the Leningrad region that served as their hideout, where two Latvian nationals were detained. The suspected leader of the gang, Ukrainian national Valentin Voinovsky, was extradited to Russia from Belarus, while eight Russian suspects were arrested in Russia.

                    A ninth was arrested in the Netherlands and is awaiting extradition to Russia, Borodulin said. The two Latvians are in custody. If convicted of drug-trafficking and related charges, the suspects face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The investigative department that is formally handling the case will pass it to the Prosecutor General’s Office in the next few days, Borodulin said.

NEW TAMIL MOVIE based On COSTA CORCORDIA Disaster, Movie Shooting To Start Soon Near The Wreck! In Italy!

NEW TAMIL MOVIE based On COSTA CORCORDIA Disaster, Movie Shooting To Start Soon Near The Wreck! In Italy!

            The film is part of a new wave of Tamil cinema known as Kollywood, which combines elements of Hollywood films with Kodambakkam, a style originating from a Chennai neighborhood in southeast India.

           An Indian film loosely based on last year's Costa Concordia shipwreck is to start shooting this year in the same region of Italy where the disaster happened, the Toscana Film Commission said on Friday.

             Shooting of the Tamil-language film was due to start next month but will have to be delayed because local sensitivities on the island of Giglio where the wreck still lies mean it will have to be filmed on a different island.

             The luxury liner crashed into the tiny island in January last year with 4,229 people from dozens of countries on board in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives and triggered international concern over cruise ship safety.

            "The community on the island is understandably very sensitive. We are trying to find another island in the archipelago where they can shoot," said Raffaella Conti from the commission, which helps producers shoot films in Tuscany.

               The film will be made by Sri Mishri Production and is part of a new wave of Tamil cinema known as "Kollywood" -- a combination of Hollywood and Kodambakkam, a neighbourhood  in Chennai in Tamil Nadu in southeast India.

         The basic plotline for the film is that "a group of tourists find themselves on a desert island as a result of a shipwreck," Conti said.

            Tuscany is bidding to become a new destination for blockbuster film productions from the world's new economic powerhouses.

           Bollywood stars have been strutting the mediaeval streets of famous Tuscan cities like Florence, Lucca and Siena in recent months including for the Tamil-language hit Rajapattai starring Vikram.

                 A popular Brazilian soap opera "Passion" has led to a spike in tourism from Brazil and Chinese state broadcaster CCTV's "The China Story" has told the tale of the phenomenon of Chinese immigration in the Tuscan fashion industry.

              "We are turning to the BRIC countries as one of our directions," said Conti, using a popular term for global economic powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India and China.

                    The Toscana Film Commission in Florence, a public-private partnership, helps filmmakers deal with local red tape and find locations and staff. Its members have attended film festivals in Busan in South Korea and in Hong Kong.

Fatal accident during mooring operation

Fatal accident during mooring operation

Official report: (Edited from Statens haverikommission (SHK) Swedish Accident Investigation Authority – Report S-95/11)

                         A general cargo ship arrived with an import cargo that was stacked high on the hatch covers, exposing a large lateral wind area. A strong offshore wind was blowing during the final approach to the berth (starboard side to) with a pilot on board, but it had been already decided that the docking could be safely completed without tug assistance.

 

Picture briefing the view of an accident.

                     
                 The forward mooring team on the forecastle consisted of the C/O, Bosun and an able seaman (AB). The vessel was fitted with a large wavebreaker right forward, which meant that the forecastle deck had very little clear area. Standing on a small bulwark platform on the starboard side, the C/O was

Two shipping companies to pay $10M in 'magic hose' case

Two shipping companies to pay $10M in 'magic hose' case - violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships

                                      1.M/T Cape Taft

                    2.M/T King Emerald

                  The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice:(WASHINGTON) -- 

Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus today pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited U.S. ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard. 

                                       

            U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman and U.S. Coast Guard Deputy Commander of the Delaware Bay Sector Capt. Todd Wiemers announced the plea agreement – which includes a $10.4 million penalty, $2.6 million of which will be used address environmental damage caused by Hurricane Sandy – at a press conference in Newark, N.J.

According to a multi-district plea agreement arising out of charges brought in the District of New Jersey and District of Delaware, Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. (CSM-CY), a Cypriot company, have agreed to pay a $10.4 million penalty and be placed on probation for four years.  During probation, the companies will be subject to the terms of an environmental compliance program that requires outside audits by an independent company and oversight by a court appointed monitor.  The shipping firms admitted that four of their ships (three oil tankers and one container ship) had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment and falsified the oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.  

Answers for 15 questions on "TITANIC FACTS"

            

1.Titanic Was Built at Harland and Wolff, Belfast.

2.Titanic Had 24 double-ended and 5 single-ended boilers
3.No Number during old days
4. No
5. SOLAS and International Ice Patrol
6.The Center Propeller had 4 blades and the wing propellers both starboard and port had 3 blades each.
7.RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic were sisterships of Titanic.
8. White Star Line
9.2 Dynamos of each 30 kW was Titanic's emergency source or auxiliary source     of power.
10.The Main Power Generation system was 4 Dynamos producing 400 kW each.
11.one port, one starboard, one in the centreline and two kedging anchors
12.It had unbalanced rudder right behind the center propeller
13.She was Propelled By 2 steam Engines and a steam turbine
14.She was a Triple screw Vessel
15.Port of Registry: Liverpool, UK.

Take a test on TITANIC and test your level ? Titanic - Actual Facts -QUESTIONS

Take a test on TITANIC and test your level ?

Titanic - Real Facts -QUESTIONS

      This year being the 100th year after the sink of TITANIC,this post is made such a way to test my readers rgarding the knowledge about TITANIC with 15 questions....the answers along with explanation are displayed at the bottom of the post ....so readers guess for answers in the comment box....

Question 1

Where Was Titanic Built?

A	Belfast
B	Liverpool
C	Southampton
D	London
Question 2

How many main Boilers did Titanic Had?  

A	24 double ended Boilers
B	26 double ended Boilers
C	20 double ended Boilers
D	12 double ended Boilers

Question 3

What Was the Hull Number (or) Ship Number designated for Titanic when it was under Construction?

A	399
B	400
C	401
D	No Number during old days
Question 4

Did Titanic Had Bulbous Bow?  

A	Yes
B	No

Question 5

Which Convention Originated After Titanic's Disaster?

A	MARPOL
B	SOLAS
C	COLREGS
D	International Ice Patrol
E	SOLAS and International Ice Patrol
Question 6

How Many Propeller Blades did the Wing Propellers had?

A	same as center propeller
B	4
C	3
D	2

Fuel leakage from main engine fuel pump

                    A product tanker was proceeding on a long voyage after the completion of drydocking and associated surveys. During the ocean passage, the fire alarm suddenly activated in the engine room. Instead of a fire, the cause of the alarm turned out to be a large leakage of fuel oil from a flange on the inlet pipe of the main engine no. 4 fuel injection pump.

Result of investigation

1.The fuel system had been overhauled, but no senior ship’s engineer supervised its refitting in drydock. As they did not have a new spare, the yard workers had reused the gasket of the flange connection on the suction side of the fuel injection pump even though it was damaged;

2.The insulation and leakage containment cover over the fuel line had not been renewed/refitted.

Lessons learnt

1.Proper planning is necessary in drydock and during major repairs 

to ensure that responsible officers are delegated to supervise the 

refitting of critical components;

2.The condition, integrity and tightness of piping should be 

regularly checked, especially on critical equipment and fuel oil 

systems;

3.The vessel must ensure that adequate quantities of original spare

 parts are available at all times, and that all gaskets are renewed 

whenever pipelines are opened up and reconnected;

4.Wherever appropriate, lagging and containment covering must 

always be refitted, or renewed, if damaged;

5.All defective parts discovered after an incident must be 

carefully preserved to allow detailed investigations and to 

establish the underlying cause(s) so that effective corrective and 

preventative actions can be taken.

ACCIDENT & INVESTIGATION

Hand injury from pneumatic needle gun

          Whilst carrying out chipping / descaling / derusting 

operations on deck with a pneumatic hammer, a crewmember 

was trying to direct the tool into a crevice of a deck structure

 while it was running. Due to inattention, he inadvertently 

laced his finger in way of the needles. He reported the 

incident only after the finger had become painful and swollen.

Result of investigation

1.Proper PPE was in use;

2.A momentary lapse in concentration resulted in the finger coming into a hazardous zone;

3.Difficult access to a restricted space requiring the operator to manually guide the needle gun.

Lessons learnt

1.It is important not to lose concentration when operating 

power tools and to keep body parts away from exposed 

moving components;

2.The operator must never grip the needle guide of a running 

pneumatic needle or chisel hammer gun;

3.Incidents must be reported as soon as they occur.